The story of written Laz begins not on the Black Sea coast but in the Soviet Union. On 7 November 1929, in Sukhumi, the first newspaper ever printed in the Laz language appeared: Mcita Murutskhi (“Red Star”).

A language finds its press

The paper was the work of Iskender Tzitashi, a Laz teacher and intellectual who had created the first Laz alphabet earlier that year, adapting the Latin script to the sounds of Lazuri. Mcita Murutskhi used this new alphabet with a clear aim: to raise literacy among the Laz and to turn a purely spoken language into a written one.

A short life, a lasting mark

The newspaper was short-lived, appearing only a couple of times before Soviet policy turned against minority-language work and Tzitashi himself was persecuted. In Turkey the paper was banned outright. Yet Mcita Murutskhi remains the world’s first publication in Laz, proof that the language could live on the page.

Remembered every year

Its legacy is now permanent: in 2021 the Laz Institute declared 7 November, the date of that first issue, as Laz Language Day, marked each year to honour the written word that Mcita Murutskhi began.

Learn more: Laz language on Wikipedia.

Image: first page of Mcita Murutskhi, November 1929, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).